1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to side rail systems utilized on patient support platforms and beds. The present invention relates more specifically to a system of partially rigid pads positioned in conjunction with the side rails of patient support platforms, hospital beds, and the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
The basic patient support system utilized in most hospitals and extended care facilities provides a number of essential elements intended to accommodate a variety of patient conditions and situations. The basic support system incorporates a mattress positioned on a platform or other frame, most commonly connected with an underlying base frame mounted on casters for mobility. There is typically a head board and a foot board to enclose the upper and lower end of the mattress platform. There are also typically a number of side rails that may be raised or lowered to alternately enclose the mattress or allow the patient access to or exit from the bed. In addition, most such patient support systems incorporate articulating frames and mattresses that allow an upper (head) section to be raised at an angle with respect to a middle or torso section, and likewise for a lower (foot) section to be lowered at an angle below the middle or torso section. Such articulations facilitate both the comfort of the patient and the ease with which the patient may enter and exit the bed.
The combination of side rails and articulating frames on patient support surfaces has resulted in the development of very specific design features that are incorporated into the side rails to allow their movement into either raised or lowered positions both while the bed is horizontally planar and while the bed is articulated into angled configurations. In most instances the requirements for bed articulation dictate that each side rail be divided into two parts, an upper side rail associated with the head section of the bed and a lower side rail covering the balance of the side of the bed enclosure. Mirror images of these side rails are positioned on an opposite side of the bed, and operate in conjunction with the head board and foot board to fully enclose the patient within the bed or mattress area. The various components of the basic patient support system that serve to enclose the patient within the platform area give rise to new problems associated with the safety and comfort of the patient. Because it is necessary for these various enclosing panels to move and articulate themselves as the bed frame moves and articulates, there are necessarily gaps, openings, and passages between the various panel components, and between the panel components and the mattress itself. Efforts have been made in the past to appropriately fill the gaps and spaces between the various components that make up the patient support system. For the most part these efforts have focused on the addition of loose cushions to block the openings between the various enclosing panels and side rails. Such systems clearly suffer from the inability to maintain a fixed association between the cushions and the patient support platform and to accommodate the articulation of the bed frame.
As discussed in more detail below, various governmental agencies and standards organizations have identified spatial zones of concern that relate to the safety and comfort of the patient positioned on the typical hospital bed utilizing side rails. For those hospital beds and patient support platforms that have an articulating structure, these elements take on added dimensions depending upon the various orientations of the support platform components. The typical articulating patient support platform that utilizes side rails will incorporate split side rails on each side of the bed. A first set of side rails are associated with the upper or head portion of the support platform, and move in conjunction with it as it is raised and lowered. A second set of side rails are typically associated with the lower and/or middle portion of the patient support platform and move in conjunction therewith. A number of existing bed designs include mechanisms that allow the knee area of the platform to articulate. Although the angle that is achieved is generally less than that between the upper (head) section and the middle (torso) section, the rails that are connected to the lower (foot) section do move in conjunction with the lower (foot) section as it is raised and lowered with respect to the middle (torso) section. Each of the side rails also move (typically through an arc of rotation to the side and down) into a lowered and stored position away from the side of the mattress as is well known in the art. Because of the relative movement between the two side rail components that occurs with the above articulations, it is necessary to structure and design the components to both accommodate the articulating motion, the ability to rotate the side rails out of the way, and the continued purpose of having side rails, namely the appropriate enclosure of the patient support area.
While efforts have been made in the past to improve safety and comfort for the patient, such efforts often fail to allow the continued versatility associated with existing articulating bed frames. Such safety and comfort panels and pads very often must be removed before a bed platform can be articulated into an elevated or lowered position. It would be desirable to have a system for side rail pad components that continued to allow full movement of the bed frame components at the same time it provided for improved safety and comfort to the patient. It would further be desirable that such components could be moved from positions directly in contact with the sides of the patient support mattress to positions completely apart from the patient support mattress, such movement occurring in conjunction with the same or similar movement of the side rails themselves.